


Tomato Diaries

by GrumpkinVicky



Series: Promptfics 2020 [2]
Category: Star Trek
Genre: Camp Nanowrimo, Diary/Journal, Gen, Not Canon Compliant, Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-02
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:41:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25035619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GrumpkinVicky/pseuds/GrumpkinVicky
Summary: The personal log of a redshirt.
Series: Promptfics 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1813141
Comments: 6
Kudos: 4





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [polymorphic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/polymorphic/gifts).



> I have never written for Star Trek before, and have only used it as I had no idea how to use the prompt tomato diaries.

Stardate whogivesafuck  
Location somewhere in the void of space.

It’s been a while since I last saw someone who wasn’t part of the crew. Not counting the holodeck, and let's be clear here when I say the holodeck, my access keeps being bumped because the bigwigs are more important. Of course they are, they get to be called by their names, not by oi you, or thingy. I’ve worked in this sector for most of my career and the closest I come to being called by my own name is by the doc, and only tangentially.

I guess when I’m a tomato, they don’t see the point. That's what engineering call us, "tomato" because we go squish so very easily and rarely do any of us survive long enough to see the end of a mission. Don’t worry, though, that's what we’re told, because "we are vital". It’s like we’re vermin - don’t name them, don’t get too close, you’ll only end up hurting when we invariably die.

Alright, sound of the comms, time to go make our fearless leaders look most excellent while they feed us to whatever horror they come across in the middle of nowhere.

I’d say wish me luck, but there is little point, either my training and years of dodging will hold me in good stead, or they’ll use me as a meatshield so the Captain can cop off with whichever doting being they come across.

Stardate I’malivethatssomethingright  
Location tomato graveyard

Well, that was another fuckup, six of us died, six. Only two of us made it back aboard without injury, and three made it back missing vital limbs. But it’s a bloody success.

When I was growing up, this was the dream, exploring the galaxy spreading peace and goodwill. It’s a fucking nightmare. I checked, they were a peaceful race, but the Captain just happened to gravely insult them by hitting on the leader in front of their family and then mixed up the cultural signals. Where the fuck was the ambassador? Oh, wait, copping off the Chief of engineering. Does anyone keep it in their pants?

Not to worry though, it’s all solved now, only the tomatoes and a load of their people died. We need to regroup with a supply vessel as we’re dangerously low on us tomatoes. Funny that. Who’dathunk it.

Going to catch some well-needed rest, so I don’t punch the Commander in the face.

Stardate justanotherday  
Location next to the meat market

Newbies joined today, all happy and anxious about their new posting. I have the dubious honour of being the longest-serving tomato aboard. According to one of the vets who transferred from a nice ship that had a high life expectancy level, this is a sort after posting. I didn’t have the energy to explain why it wasn’t. Anyway, vet will be the first to die, they stepped into a leadership post… Anson, I had to force myself to learn their names. His name is Anson, a career chaser, void help him.

Lisa, she’ll survive longer than most, she’s pretty and if she catches the Captain’s eye will either get moved over to a safer colour or die quickly by being dragged to every mission. 

Alice, the Captain doesn’t like redheads, says it clashes with the uniform. How they haven’t been strung up by all the blatant harassment is only testament to how they see our mission. Far more important than the faceless drones. Not when the mighty face of the Captain is spreading peace and goodwill and furthering the name of the federation… Fucking idiots that they are.

My squad, until they all croak it again. 

Stardate Iwasright  
Location deathtrap

Broken down vessel with a distress call, this time they didn’t send anyone important over, just us. Alice panicked when the ship started to break apart. Apparently, she’d not been in this kind of situation before. Anson was decapitated while trying to rescue her from the airlock, and Lisa well… Lisa was left behind after she triggered the failsafe and blew the rest of them up. Twelve went over. Two of us returned. But we did manage to get the logs, so that was a win, let's ignore the huge death toll. 

Alice is with the doc under observation. She seemed nice enough, I’m back with the originals again. We’ll see how long for, even us tomatoes are noticed when they replace us too often.

Stardate whyisthismylife  
Location Captain’s hookup spot

I don’t know what I did, but apparently, I’m not going on missions with the Captain for a bit. Insubordination was the whisper, but I’ve not had a citation or been locked up in the brig. Maybe it was that I didn’t laugh at their stupid jokes. Or didn’t smile when they entered the room. Should increase my life expectancy until I’m back in favour.

I got to do an actually successful mission. No deaths, no missing limbs, and no injuries of any kind. Who knew that if you snuck in without shooting first, and had a quiet chat using the Intel the ambassador gave us, we could do things nicely? It won’t last, but for once, it felt good.

Stardate whyme?  
Location cesspit

Alice didn’t make it past the third mission, after the second success, I thought for sure she was going to be a vet like the “lucky” ones. Third mission endly badly, even by the Captain’s standards. Yes some of us made it out, but some of the others didn’t, the real crew, not just us tomatoes. We were on the outskirts dealing with a hostile attack when one of engineering blew up half the contingent doing whatever they do. Alice got hit with the remains of a poor sod. She chose to not come back with us, no one noticed, she dumped her comms on a corpse and slipped into a crowd of onlookers.

She’s on the deceased list. 

Doc didn’t even check. 

Stardate voidtearmeapart  
Location beauticians

They have us, and by us, I mean tomatoes, running errands as the rest of the crew have leave. Someone has to keep engineering from running riot with paint or some rubbish. I’ve found a sweet spot, it looks like I’m doing a lot, instead, I’m writing down all the shit the Captain has done recently. Including selling precious supplies so that they could impress bigwigs before absconding with their culturally important iconography. Which didn’t go in the official report, because only three of us knew about it. Or according to the Captain, only two knew about.

Newbies are joining again, fresh-faced and eager to die. What has the universe come to? There are rumblings about infiltration coming through, not that us lot are supposed to know about it. The problem with not naming the vermin is they tend to forget we’re here. The Captain had a chat with the Chief while I was busy submitting my reports. It was like I wasn’t even there. The Chief gave me a look after, it was one of surprise, I shrugged and that was that. I don’t think she knows my name. I don’t think she even recognises me past the shirt.

Stardate soclose  
Location torment

I put in another request for transfer to the next post off this place. It was denied. There are multitudes waiting for a spot on board SS STD, they can have mine. I hate my life. I hate this place. The Chief sent it back with a “give it a couple of missions to settle in, you’ll love the place”. I’ve outlived three Chiefs, granted only one of them met a grizzly end, but for void's sake, why keep me here?

I have my suspicions. While personal logs are supposed to be personal, well, two of the crew were dishonourably discharged after using theirs to write unappreciative and “untrue” things. Or so we were told in the canteen as third-hand knowledge. Secrets like this spread like tribbles.

The Captain is “sick” currently, so life is pretty good beyond the whole, not letting me leave.

Stardate tomorrow?  
Location last location of Alice.

Turns out that the doc eventually sorted through all the remains and discovered Alice’s body wasn’t one we returned with. Alice was related to a bigwig no one important aboard realised, and the Captain’s panicking. Saying “sorry she’s dead,” and then not being able to return her body wasn’t an ideal solution. So back we go. 

I’m curious, I know they have read this, but they don’t seem to have noticed that I knew she wasn’t dead or where she was. Or maybe they haven’t and I’m just going paranoid in my youthful exuberance. Guess who’s on body retrieval duty… who has a red shirt, that's right… Maybe I’ll try an Alice and piss off into the undergrowth too.

Stardate fuckmylife  
Location Planet Alice

It was going well. The Captain is still sick if I was asked I’d say it was to make sure they didn’t fuck up the mission. The natives were cautious but answered the Commanders questions. Even got a location for Alice. 

I got kidnapped.

I don’t even know how it happened, one moment I’m busy talking to Alice who no one recognised in a crowd, and the next I’m knocked out and in the back of a cave network while Alice is busy screaming about how she was going to kill everyone aboard SS STD. 

Non Official report is that Alice had been suffering from a toxin, went feral and the Commander had no choice but to put her down. Actual phrasing in the report. Put her down, because she was a redshirt, she was vermin—important vermin, but vermin no less.

The official report is that she was dead before we arrived.

I hesitated. I hesitated before getting free. Not my first hostage situation, not even my tenth. After the first time when we were left to free ourselves, I practised over and over again so I would never be stuck. 

When the Commander stormed in, Alice was weeping, rocking in a corner, tied up. The Commander is the reason why no one seriously reports the Captain. The Captain is… well, better to die by an idiot than to be murdered in cold blood by your commanding officer.

Still, the Commander is career hungry too, just waiting for the right command to up and leave us. 

Stardate yesterdaytodaytomorrow  
Location station

Commander and Captain gave everyone shore leave again. Except us. We’re trusted to show the little people around, so they feel safe knowing we are out there protecting them. I’ve been told not to answer truthfully, swear the new Chief actually pays attention. 

Stardate ohshit  
Location transport vessel

Probably my last entry. Chief kept me back against Captain’s wishes for last mission, then when Captain and Commander were landside, was escorted to transport bay and frogmarched on an escort errand. No one in the transport bay other than Chief and escort, my few belongings were handed to me. 

Ship is unmarked, escort isn’t in uniform. Chief didn’t say anything. 

I should feel something I think. Fear? Anxiety? I should add something for posterity.

I am not a tomato. I have a name. I am Ensign Third Class Paks Garbor.


	2. Space Shrimps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another prompt

Stardate youcancheckthedata  
Location first real trial

So it appears that they prefer the lack of intel in these logs as to locations, so I didn’t need to change that. I wasn’t disappeared as I feared I was going to be. Instead, they wanted to take advantage of my ability to survive for long periods under shockingly awful command. So here I am, taking notes under another death trap of a leader who is suspected of inappropriate behaviour. That's what we call it, not selling secrets or mass genocide, but merely behaviour that could be seen as inappropriate if it became widely known.

I have a new code name, Fruit. Because a tomato is a fruit. Its a very clever code name, and still not my actual name, but it is safer. First land mission went surprisingly well, no deaths. It took six to get to the stage where they forgot about me. You can tell when their eyes skate over you because of what you wear. Redshirt = not important. It took a while longer before they forgot enough to stop paying attention to their actions. I was one of them, saved someone from losing their arm in the jaws of a snapping giant beast, and I was in.

First report sent back was yes they were selling things. The Captain was not aware, but some items were “lost” on missions. This Captain doesn’t seem to keen on leaving his quarters, letting the Commander run things how they want. Off to a new planet on a diplomacy mission, small crew two redshirts, the Commander, a medic and an engineer, all part of the core team. 

Stardate SPACESHRIMPS  
Location spaceshrimps

Well. I don’t think anyone needs to worry about dealing with the bad element anymore after today's massive fuckup. SS Dodgy is no more. The rest of the landing crew are no more, and I’m waiting for pick up. 

Turns out that the things the landing party shot at were the natives and not the humanoid types that were the uh, well not natives I think is what I’m calling it. If I don’t make it back, this is what happened.

We land, planet is mainly swamp based, sticky, warm. I was sent on ahead as the most survivable member, to scout out a safe path out of the enormous stretch of swampland. I’d made it to a cave network and caught a none native attacking a native and stepped in after I got caught trying to keep out of sight. Turns out I saved a youngling from being eaten by the non-native. It was purely chance, the non-native shot at me, I shot back, it could easily have been the other way and I would be swimming with the hungry young too.

Young does not mean small. These are easily three times my size, the adults are the size of a shuttle, I saw shells that were bigger than that. The non-natives were of a similar size. Communication was difficult, they have intelligence, the ability to leave the planet, and impressive weaponry to take out SS Dodgy without it escaping. 

The explosion was impressive even planetside, lit up the night sky, not sure we’ll find any remains, having watched the young devour the corpses that fell into their spawning area/sleeping areas. 

Here’s hoping I make it back.


End file.
